Kelvin Gastelum shared the gruesome footage of getting his tooth stitched back in after suffering a mouth injury.
Mixed martial arts veteran Gastelum has been out of action since dropping a bout to former title challenger Jared Cannonier in Aug. at UFC on ESPN 29. He was scheduled to face the top 15 ranked middleweight contender Nassourdine Imavov in the headlining fight of UFC Fight Night 217 on Jan. 14.
On Jan. 9, Gastelum pulled out of the match at the last minute due to a mouth injury.
Kelvin Gastelum shows the horrific mouth injury that forced him to pull out of UFC Vegas 67
In a recent clip uploaded on his Twitter account, Kelvin Gastelum showed the horrific procedure of getting his tooth stitched back on.
“Graphic imaging,” warned Gastelum.
Kelvin Gastelum made his way to the UFC through the reality television MMA competition series The Ultimate Fighter. He appeared in the Season 17 of the show and went on to win the series by defeating Uriah Hall in the finale. The 31-year-old Arizonian moved to the welterweight division after joining the UFC ranks.
Gastelum had difficulties making the 170-pound division limit and had to return to middleweight. He competed for the interim 185-pound title in Apr. 2019 when he faced former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 236. Adesanya managed to edge out Gastelum in a close-fought war that earned them Fight of the Night honors as well as the 2019 Fight of the Year award from multiple media members.
Strickland will replace Gastelum for UFC Fight Night 217
Sean Strickland agreed to step in and replace Gastelum for the main event fight with Imavov. The bout will proceed at the light heavyweight limit of 205 pounds as opposed to the 185-pound limit of the middleweight division. Strickland becomes the first athlete to headline back-to-back main events, the final card of 2022 and the first of 2023, in modern UFC history.
He is coming off a razor-thin split decision loss to Cannonier in his last outing and will look to snap his two-fight losing streak this Saturday.
